Editorial: Vows to clean up Pennsylvania Turnpike corruption welcomed

A statewide grand jury recently wrapped up work on an 85-page presentment that, in part, described the inner workings of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

It wasn’t pretty.Charges of bid-rigging, bribery, extorting political favors — it read like an encyclopedia entry on how to run a corrupt government entity.

For instance, the grand jury singled out the commission’s dealings with a technology consulting firm called Ciber Inc. The presentment alleged the commission paid Ciber $82 million — a cost allegedly inflated by the company billing for unnecessary tasks — and in return, the company helped raise money from sub-consultants for an influential state senator and bought expensive dinners and gifts for top turnpike officials.

And, to no surprise, the grand jury wrote, “Witness after witness testified that the turnpike did not need the system proposed by and implemented by Ciber.”

The grand jury also alleged a spoils system, in which the party in control of the Legislature was allowed to grant 60 percent of the turnpike commission’s contracts to politically connected cronies and the minority party got 40 percent of that business.

No wonder tolls on the turnpike are so high if motorists have to subsidize what is essentially graft. (The high cost might also be attributable to bloated staff. The turnpike has 2,100 employees to manage 552 miles of roadway — nearly four employees for every mile of highway.)

The company’s vice president, Dennis Miller, was among the eight people charged in the scandal, facing bid-rigging charges, among others. Those charged included former Senate Democratic leader Robert J. Mellow, former Turnpike Commission Chairman Mitchell Rubin and former turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier, all charged with crimes ranging from bribery to bid-rigging.

This could be a turning point for the turnpike commission — long believed to be a cesspool of political patronage and corruption.

Current CEO Mark Compton, who took the reins of the turnpike just last month, ordered the commission’s compliance officer to review every professional service contract cited in the grand jury report. He said he wants to make sure all of the contracts are on the up-and-up and were awarded to companies that perform vital work and were not awarded a key to the state treasury for being politically connected.

Compton made sure to point out — accurately — that the agency’s contracting procedures have improved and that the grand jury report singles out the actions of a few, not the majority, of turnpike employees. He also made sure to point out that he was “personally offended by the conduct” alleged by the grand jury.

Still, the scandal leaves a stain on the commission, and on the state Legislature, a body marked in recent years with stains that no dry cleaner could remove.

So Compton’s efforts to remove the stain are commendable. In addition to reviewing every contract mentioned by the grand jury, he ordered reviews of every contract granted during the four years the grand jury investigated the turnpike.

He made it clear that any company that participated in the alleged pay-for-play will have its contract rescinded and be sued to recover reimbursement for unnecessary expenses — just as the commission has done to Ciber, terminating its contracts and seeking restitution.

The steps, Compton said, “signify a clean break from any past offenses.”

And that’s what’s needed now. It’ll take a lot of bleach to remove this stain and Compton is showing a willingness to apply it.

In fact, it might be that more is needed. There have been recent discussions about privatizing the turnpike or essentially turning its operations over to PennDOT.

Both ideas deserve serious consideration by lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett in light of this grand jury presentment.

The Pennsylvania taxpayers have been ripped off by this money-eating cesspool long enough.